Intellectual Property

The Intellectual Property Policy

The Intellectual Property Policy has been prepared by the Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC) and is intended as a guide for the employees and students of COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) herein referred as “Institute”. The policy is put in place to protect and secure the intellectual property being generated research activities of faculty, staff and students of CIIT.

A. Purpose:

The purpose of Intellectual Property Policy is:

To provide necessary protection and incentivize the discovery and development of innovation through new knowledge, its transfer for the public benefit and its use for development of the economy.

To generate revenues for the Institute and financial rewards to the inventor/creator.

To reserve the right of the Institute to use the intellectual property and preserve Institute’s freedom to conduct future research.

To raise competitive index of COMSATS Institute of Information Technology among peer institutions of the world.

B. Ownership:

The institute is the owner of all the inventions/creations or any other copyrightable work by the employees through Institute’s Fund and/or using Institute’s resources. The following conditions shall apply:

If the invention/creation is done by the employee through the Institute’s fund (Patent Filing Fee or by using any of Institute’s infrastructure), the Institute shall be the owner of the work and all royalties/grants shall be in Institute’s interest.

If the research leading to an Intellectual Property has been funded by or through the Institute by way of a grant or any other funding body (government or private), the terms of the grant or the funding agency may override any of the rules contrary to the Institute’s IP Policy.

If the Institute’s resources are used and the funding is generated from any external source, Institute shall be the owner of any IP thus generated.

If the researcher has come up with an invention/creation as part of his/her employment contractual obligations, the Institute shall be empowered to retain the exclusive rights of the IP thus generated, even if Institute’s resources or funds have not been used.

In case an IP is generated which is not in the research interest of the Institute, the Dean RIC may use his discretionary authorization to grant freedom of filing of IP.

If a student’s thesis/dissertations contain therein patentable ideas or other intellectual property which the Institute deems useful, the Institute shall be the owner of such IP.

C. Commercialization:

The Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC), is the unit responsible and has been delegated with the authority for evaluating, protecting and commercializing Institute’s IP and administering all relevant Institute’s policies to assure commercialization.

The Institute may determine means to protect the Intellectual Property in order to commercialization of such innovation/invention. This solely bases on the commercial potential of the Intellectual Property as determined by ORIC.

The institute will inform the inventor in writing prior to applying or filing for patent as the case may be. However, in such eventuality the inventor shall fulfill all criteria and present all the data as and when required. The Institute on it sole discretion is entitled to approach negotiates and enters into any agreement with any external party regarding commercialization of the invention.

D. IP Disclosure Information:

The following information shall be provided by the inventors when they would submit their inventions’ disclosure to ORIC.

A statement to the best of their knowledge that they are the inventor(s) of disclosed invention.

Any other IP already in place intended to be used as a reference to practice the invention.

E. Revenue from Intellectual Property:

The revenue received from the commercialization of the Intellectual Property owned by the Institute shall be shared between the Inventor and the Institute on the following terms.

The Revenue shall be divided between the Inventor and the Institute according to the following ratios:

Inventor – 50%

Inventor’s Faculty/Department – 25%

Institute’s General Fund – 25%

The Institute reserves the right to revise the above distribution at any stage.

F. Administration:

The Relevant Campus from where the Intellectual Property is being filed by the applicant shall bear the Patent Filing Fee.

ORIC may advise the Institute regarding taking up any Intellectual Property of its employee for patent protection or any commercial project.

The inventor may not accept any amount/ royalty/ favor in respect of lending the IP for commercial purposes without prior written permission of ORIC, CIIT